no.1 sunderland fan

I had been playing FM2007 for ages and I could find a tactic that worked. Finally I stumbled accross a very simple 4-3-3 that has worked wonders with my Arsenal team. The team is as follows:

GK: Lehmann
FBR:Lauren/Eboue
FBL:Hoyte/Clichy
DC's:Gallas,Toure
MC's:Fabregas,moldanado,rosicky
FC's:Baptista,Henry,Walcott(Baptista middle ST, Walcott and Henry swap positions)

I have only made two real changes to a standard 4-3-3 and it makes me very solid in defence, especially at home, although away it concedes to many goals so I like to play 4-1-2-2-1. What I do to make the formation more solid is to set the middle of my MC's (which is moladando)to a defensive midfield postition and my 2 full backs have arrows back to help stop crosses. I like my team to push up when using this tactic as this helps my passing game and I have 2 quick DC's so I can get away with it most of the time. As I said before this is a very useful tactic at home, I have beaten Villa 5-0, Wigan 5-0 and Liverpool 3-0 and I have only dropped 2 points at home in 12 games. However this formation does leak goals away from home. I have lost to both Reading and Sheffield United away, so to combat this I drop much deeper, stop playing offside and play much more direct football, which makes it easier for me to counter attack. This tactic may only work for the better teams as to play this way your team needs to have good passing stats and be able to play with a slow tempo, which helps to pass the ball around. When this tactic is at its best the football can be beautiful as the team strokes the ball around and some of the goals are sublime, but I would imagine that Arsenal are one of only a few teams this would work for as you need power and pace both up front and at the back, Gallas, Toure, Baptista and Henry have all been exceptional for me this season. The reason I play Walcott instead of RVP or Adebayor is the sheer pace. All of my midfielders and forwards have through ball set to often to help utilise the pace of Walcott and Henry, and I do tend to create a bucket load of chances. This tactic has not been fully tested yet as I am only in January, but things are going well. Top the league and comfortably into the last 16 of the champions league. Also beat Chelsea 2-1 away in the first leg of the league cup. Hopefully I can win a few trophies this season and get some good players in for next season.

no.1 sunderland fan

I wanted to try managing one of the bigger teams before I had a go at managing Sunderland, might start a new season with them tonight